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PERAMA, Greece — The shipyards are deserted in this town just west of Piraeus, Greece's main port, and unemployment hovers at 60 percent. The country is at the edge of bankruptcy, and with more government spending cuts looming, newly impoverished Greeks are turning to charity for health care, medicines and food.
The Greek branch of Doctors of the World, a French-founded relief group renowned for aiding war victims and impoverished immigrants, now has a clinic in Perama, where 80 or more people line up three days a week. To cope with demand, the group plans to operate the clinic seven days a week.
Panagiotis Alexius has been coming in for free medicines and a dosage of oxygen since the clinic opened in February 2010. For 40 years he worked in the nearby shipyards, or abroad, spraying a toxic mix of chemicals and sand on ship hulls. Disabled by a rare lung disease in 2002, he received disability payments. But he's now fallen through Greece's safety net: He is officially assessed as 67 percent disabled, but the threshold for government support has been raised to 80 percent.
Because of an unpaid tax bill from 10 years ago, Alexius is barred from receiving government-paid health services.
"Greece is a total mess on these issues," he told a visiting reporter. "I searched for help at the ministry, but it was difficult to figure out what is going on."
His six children, only two of whom are employed, help pay his electricity and food bills.
